Computing systems sometimes utilize full volume/full disk encryption for a hard disk drive (HDD) where data is stored to the HDD in an encrypted format and must then be decrypted before providing the data to a user or another application. However, because of the encrypted state of the HDD, operations relating to getting data from or writing data to the HDD must generally be postponed until a key or other type of decryption component is obtained or generated (e.g., in response to an authentication operation), thereby resulting in HDD accessibility limitations, especially during booting of the computing system.